Tuesday, November 22, 2016

What's best in online learning design - 1st or 3rd person?

Richard Mayer has over 500 publications to his name and does
something extraordinary. He tells us how to design online learning. What makes
his work so brilliant, and useful, is that some of his findings are
counterintuitive. Take this brilliant example.

First or third
person?

When showing a series of graphics, photographs, animations
or on video, should you show procedures from the first (learner) or third
(teacher’s) perspective?

You should show from the first person perspective to
achieve higher retention and transfer. This is not surprising, when you think
about what you are trying to achieve – cognitive change in the learner’s brain.
First person is exactly how the actions will be performed in real life, so that
viewpoint is more congruent with the eventual outcome.

Wrong practice

Yet most photographers, animators, graphic artists and video
Directors’ are likely to create or shoot a third person perspective. There is
the additional advantage in some tasks of a more open, less occluded view, as
the hands and fingers are not covering the action. It may be trickier to shoot,
as the instructor lies between the camera and the action, but it is right.

VR is first person

This finding also lends weight to the use of first-person VR
and AR in learning, where the learner is the viewer/director. VR gives the
added benefits of total immersion, full attention, emotional impact, context
and actual doing, which all add up to increased retention and transfer.

Conclusion

Online design needs to pay more attention to findings such
as this. Mayer has been publishing this stuff for decades, yet many are unaware
of his work, which shows time and time again, that 'less is more'. Yet online learning
design seems to have drifted towards ‘more
is more’. For hundreds of other tips on online learning design from Mayer and
other researched sources click here.